Lecture – A global history of knowledge of hydroelectric dams in Latin America: the Tucuruí case

Context: During the Cold War, Latin America became one of the most important arenas for the construction of large dams and hydroelectric dams in the world. From a global historical perspective, the lecture shows how several countries, including Mexico and Brazil, were able to produce technological and economic knowledge about dams through national engineers and institutions. From the construction of Brazilian dam of Tucuruí, in the Paraense Amazon, it is argued that in Latin America new knowledge centers emerged for which the exchange with Europe and the United States was decisive. However, it was not simply a transfer of knowledge from the Global North, but a process of appropriation and knowledge production that was decisive for global knowledge about hydroelectric dams. Latin American experiences with gigantic dams not only influenced dam engineering, but also the destruction of the environment and the resistance of civil society by indigenous groups and environmentalists which changed the way of thinking about water energy in the 1970s and 1980s.    
Speaker: Frederik Schultz, University of Munster

August 2nd, 2:00PM-4:30PM
Energy and Environment Institute (IEE)
E-mail subscriptions: comunicacao@iee.usp.br

After the lecture given by Prof. Frederik Schultz, University of Munster, the topic will be debated with the participation of professors Georg Fisher, University of Aarhus; Evandro Mateus Moretto, PROCAM / IEE / EACH / USP and Drielli Peyerl, IEE / RCGI / USP.